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Hiring, as we have argued before, should be treated like a zero-tolerance industry. Making strong hiring decisions is crucial to any organization’s success and wrong hires are incredible expensive mistakes that bring down the morale of everybody around them.

So, if we agree on that, what’s the key to hiring good people all the time? Structure. A great organizational hiring structure ensures that no matter who is doing the hiring, there is a very high probability that they will consistently bring on a good fit.

And that means a very high chance your organization will be very successful.

So what does a well-structured hiring process look like?

The Needs Of The Job Are Clearly Defined

There’s an old expression: “if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”

In other words, know exactly what you are looking for before you hire someone. And what you are looking for is not someone with six years of experience and a certain degree. What you are really looking for is a person with a certain set of skills – say, for an example, an expert in social media marketing – and a personality that will mesh with the job.

The Screening Process Is Focused On Uncovering A Candidate’s Skills

The goal of the initial screening process should be to determine what skills the candidates have. That is first done just by scanning resumes but, as we all know, resumes can be deceiving and they don’t reveal the true skillset of the applicants. Hence the importance of doing screening interviews, easiest achieved by using a system like VoiceGlance, as it is vital to gaining true

insight into what skills each applicant has.

It isn’t that candidates’ personalities aren’t revealed in these interviews, they are. But the goal of the screening process should be to find less than five people who you think could do the job really well.

In-Person Interviews Are Culture-Based

If your screening process is strong, the people you bring in for in-person interviews should be well-qualified to do the job. Now, the focus should be on answering this question: is this person going to fit in well with the team? That question can be answered both by traditional interviewing and using more creative methods, such as having the person work with your team for a day.

If the person is qualified and they’d be a good fit, they are almost always going to be a good hire. The last key is that…

The Candidate Really Wants The Job

When a candidate does come in for an interview, it is vital to accurately explain their job duties, explaining both the good points and the bad. This way, the candidate can speak to exactly how they can help your company. More importantly, it is important that they know what they are getting into. If it is something they aren’t going to be happy doing, it is far better for them to drop out before than for them to get into something they hate.

Follow The Process All The Time

The most important step. Organizations often have good systems in place, but then they are not followed in all situations for a variety of reasons – mostly because they are desperate to fill a job quickly – and generally the results are disastrous. If you follow the first four steps on every hire, then there is a high probability you’ll hire the right people. But if you begin to rush decisions and hire out of desperation, the chances of success go down, and the chances of a disastrous hire increase dramatically.

We’ve all talked about the ‘Online Resume Black Hole.’ Here are some insights about the process.

First of all, here are some numbers to understand when submitting an online resume.

Did you know that each job opening will have 300-400 applicant resumes. Some companies sort the resumes for keywords. Some still use people to sort, too. Typically, an HR person will screen a resume for only 20 seconds. Imagine, with 20 jobs to recruit for, the time spent by HR to screen resumes is enormous. After the screening, resumes will go into the ‘Go’ or ‘No Go’ pile. It is critical to make your resume stand out.

The number going into the ‘Go’ pile will

proceed to ‘process forward’. For the ‘No Go’ pile, this is likely the end of the road. Often, you will not hear another word from the company – you are now in the ‘Resume Black Hole’.

Here are 4 tips to keep your resume from landing in the ‘No Go’ pile.

1. Only apply to jobs where you actually have 80-85% or more of the requirements. Applying to every job out there only increases your chances of landing in the ‘No Go’ pile.

2. Always customize each resume to include and match back to every possible keyword that is mentioned in the job description.

3. Develop a headline that uniquely defines your area of expertise. It is up to you, to highlight yourself. Don’t leave it to the HR professional to try to figure out what you can really do. That’s your job.

4. Make your resume dynamic. Focus on results, direct contributions and promotions – not only your responsibilities and tasks. State what those responsibilities and tasks actually accomplished.

Take control of your resume and the online submission process. It will take time to make your resume work for you for every job. You need to make your resume differentiated.

Interviewing – It’s a Two-Way Street. I’ve used this phrase with clients on many occasions and usually it draws the proverbial “duh” response. But recently a hiring manager who had done a couple of phone interviews with a “passive” candidate (who by the way is a top performer at another company) said, “It was like the candidate was interviewing us!”

I could hardly contain myself when I responded “he WAS interviewing you!!!” Too often companies think the candidate is the only one who is supposed to be “selling” during the interview process. This attitude can be very costly if you are trying to hire top performers – which in many cases are “passive” candidates.

These candidates are not actively looking for a job or career change when the opportunity is presented. They have no strong motivation to make a change unless you give them the motivation through a compelling interview process. In these instances the company is doing at least half of the selling. And if you are not doing an effective job selling your company and opportunity, these high potential, passive candidates are not likely to make a change.

Sounds simple, right? Then why do so many companies make the same mistake with “passive” candidates? Let’s start with some basics. What does the “ideal candidate” for the position look like? Currently employed or unemployed? Successful in their current position or not doing so well? Looking to make a logical step in their career or desperate to simply make a change? Generally satisfied with their current job/company or disgruntled and unhappy? You see where we are going with this, right? The best candidates are often (not always, of course) “passive” vs. “active.”

There are many ways to identify passive candidates, and a recruiter with expertise in your business is a great way to go. For the sake of this article let’s assume you successfully identified a top performing, passive candidate with the right mix of experience for your position. Now what? Do you treat this candidate the same as you would the plethora of other candidates who applied online? Of course not. The best way to attract this passive candidate is ask yourself a simple question, “If I was not actively looking to make a job change and was approached by another employer, what would I expect/want the interview process to be like?”
•Would you want the interview process to be timely and efficient? Or would it be OK if it dragged on and on and on?
•Would you like to be treated like you were a well qualified candidate who would be a welcome addition to the organization? Or would you prefer to be grilled like you were lucky the company was even giving you the time for an interview?
•Would you like timely feedback after interviews have taken place? Or would you like to be left hanging indefinitely with no idea how things are progressing?
• Would you prefer to speak with and/or meet a representative of the company? Or would it be OK to do video interviews via your laptop to be reviewed by someone with the company at a later date?
•Would it be OK if they ask you to drive 3 hours each way to meet the manager so it is more convenient for the company? Or would you prefer the manager travel to the location of the position to interview you to maximize your time?

While many of the answers seem obvious, you would be surprised how many companies and hiring managers fall into the “one-way” interview trap and lose interest of passive candidates. As a result companies often have no choice but to hire the active candidate who will eagerly jump through all of the hoops only to become disgruntled or not perform within months of joining the organization. And they become disgruntled or don’t perform because they were not the right person to hire. And they were not the right person to hire because the interview process was not designed to attract passive candidates. Chicken or egg?

Here are a few rules of thumb for creating an interview process that ATTRACTS passive candidates:
•It has to be timely! There is an old saying in recruiting – “time kills all deals.” This is especially true with passive candidates. Remember, they were not looking to make a change in the first place. Unexplained delays create ambivalence. Ambivalence does not motivate someone to make an important change. So you have to ask yourself the question: “Does the pace of our interview process inspire a great candidate to make a change?”
•It has to make the passive candidate feel important and wanted. If you are happy in your job and generally feel important and valued by your current employer, would you want to go to work for someone who did not seem to really want you to join their organization? And I mean REALLY want you to join their organization! So if your interview process is more of an inquisition than mutually selling, how do you think that is likely to turn out? You are still evaluating and assessing the candidate. You still have the ability to not offer them the job in the end if they do not turn out to be the best candidate. But if you are not selling along the way you won’t have the option to hire or decline them, because they will decline you first. That is the beauty of the “Two-Way Street” interview process – you ultimately make the choice on the BEST candidate because all candidates (especially passive candidates) remained engaged and interested all the way through.
•It has to keep the passive candidate engaged. You have to provide them with TIMELY FEEDBACK. No matter how great your company is – no matter how good the culture – no matter how exciting the job – without timely feedback you will lose interest of the passive candidate. Guessing games cause people to speculate. They speculate that the interview didn’t go well. They speculate the manager is not a good communicator. They speculate that making a change with uncertainty will only lead to bad things. And they were not actively looking to make a change. So they stay in their current job because it is a pretty good job in the first place. And you go back to your pool of active candidates. They accept the fact that you didn’t provide timely feedback – because they REALLY need the job! Rinse and repeat. And be prepared to refill the job in 6-12 months.
•It needs a personal touch. I hate to state the obvious, but people work for people. Don’t get me wrong, technology is great and definitely has its place in recruiting, interviewing and hiring. But if technology is so great why don’t we date on Skype? Are Facebook friends the same as real life friends? Do you try to sell your company’s products/services solely on Facetime? Remember, you are trying to sell someone who was not looking to change jobs to come to work for your company – and you cannot rely on a video interview to do that. Sure it can be a small part of the process if/when it makes sense. But the key word in the last sentence is “small.” Once again the active candidates who desperately need a job will welcome the video interview because they REALLY need the job. People work with and for people. They need to shake your hand and look you in the eye (without a webcam) to be convinced it is a good decision. And in hiring aren’t we all trying to make good decisions?
•It needs to be easy! While travel is frequently required in the interview process, you have to make it as easy as possible for the passive candidate. Sure they may need to fly to corporate HQ for final interviews – which can be sold as a positive to the passive candidate. They get to meet senior managers, see the home office, get a taste of the culture and work environment. Hopefully those are all positives for your company and help sway the passive candidate to join the team. But don’t ask the candidate to drive 3 hours each way for an initial interview! They are still in the early stages of determining if they should make a change in the first place. When you put those kind of demands on a passive candidate early in the process you are helping them make the decision – and the decision is to stay put. This all gets back to making the passive candidate feel they are important and wanted. Respecting their time is paramount in doing that!

Creating a process that attracts high quality, passive candidates is kind of like exercise for many of us. We know how important it is but we don’t take the time to do it! The benefits are extraordinary in building a high performing organization. You will eventually have to fill fewer positions because high performing, passive candidates who make career changes for the right reasons typically stay with companies longer. The extra time and work on the front end will pay off for you and your company long term.

Until we get to know someone, our brain relies on snap judgements to try to categorize the person, predict what they will do, and anticipate how we should react. You may have heard that you only have a few seconds to make a first impression, but the truth is, your brain has made up its mind (so to speak) about a person within milliseconds of meeting them. According to research done by a Princeton University psychologist, it’s an evolutionary survival mechanism. Your brain decides from the information it has—in other words, how you look—whether you are trustworthy, threatening, competent, likeable and many other traits. One way we can “hack” this split-second judgement is to be aware of our body language, especially in important situations. Whether you’re applying for a job, asking for a raise, or meeting with a new client, tweaking or just being mindful of our body language can influence the other person’s perception of us and the outcome of the situation.

Plus, it’s just bad manners. So, what should you do? Aim for good posture in a neutral position, whether sitting or standing. Stand with your arms at your sides, and sit with them at your sides or with your hands in your lap. Pay attention so that you naturally hold eye contact, smile, and be yourself. If you discover you have a particular problem with one or two of the gestures on the list, practice by yourself with a mirror or with a friend who can remind you every time you do it, until you become aware of the bad habit yourself.